Beto O'Rourke Nabs First Congressional Endorsement from Kathleen Rice

Bobbie Mccormick |Friday, March 15, 2019

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Beto O'Rourke announced he is running for president, making it official with an online video released Thursday morning.

He said that the crises in our economy, democracy and climate "will either consume us or they will afford us the greatest opportunity to unleash the genius of the United States of America". "We saw the power of this in Texas". The station reported he texted, "I'm really proud of what El Paso did and what El Paso represents". We are truly now, more than ever, the last great hope of Earth.

"We can free ourselves from the distinction of being the country that imprisons more of its fellow citizens than any other country on the face of the planet", O'Rourke said. And in true Trump-fashion, the president, known for mercilessly branding his opponents, mocked the media-beloved O'Rourke for his excessive "hand movement", the likes of which Trump said he's "never seen" before.

Should he parlay a 2018 Senate defeat into a successful 2020 White House campaign, O'Rourke would be the first USA politician to do so since Abraham Lincoln lost his Senate bid to Stephen Douglas in IL in 1858, then was elected president two years later.

In Iowa, O'Rourke said, "I could care less about your party persuasion, your religion, anything other than the fact that, right now, we are all Americans". Voters in the Lone Star State haven't elected a Democrat to the Senate in roughly three decades.

O'Rourke joins a field of more than 16 Democrats, two of whom also attended Columbia: John Delaney, CC '85, and Andrew Yang, Law '99. He nonetheless harnessed growing nationwide popularity to rake in $80-plus million during the Senate bid, including a staggering $38 million from July to September 2018 alone.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump was asked by the press to react to Democrat Robert "Beto" O'Rourke's 2020 presidential bid announcement. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). "It's the only way I know to meet that challenge", O'Rourke told the magazine. "It's just how I think, how I find the next step".

When asked about O'Rourke's entrance into the presidential race this morning, President Trump referred to O'Rourke's energetic hand movements in his announcement video and asked, "Is he insane or is that just the way he acts?"

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